Streaks of Purple Saga/Spectrum Force - Heather Ray (best beach reads txt) 📗

the small kitchen. "Here's the flatware, cups and dishes, and here's the cereals and snack foods. Kim doesn't drink coffee, by the way, so Caroline will definitely notice if you do."

"No coffee?" Jocelyn repeated with a grimace. "Wow."

"Kim usually walks to school when the weather's nice, but sometimes I pick her up. So I'll be at the door at seven-thirty."

He then led her to the stairs. "There're three bedrooms, but one of them Caroline has set up as a home office. She's a staff writer for a women's magazine. You know, clothes, makeup, the arts… that stuff."

Jocelyn nodded, trying her best to capture all the details.

"Kim's room is the second door on the left. The first door is a closet, and the bathroom is directly across."

"You really know your way around here, don't you?" Jocelyn commented innocently.

Tommy bit his lip, turning away.

Jocelyn noticed the silence, and her eyes widened when she reached a conclusion. A conclusion that explained a lot about the White Ranger's behavior.

"Oh

…" was all she said.

Thankfully, Trini emerged from Kim's bedroom and dissolved the awkward air. "Here, I've written you a list of all our home numbers. Feel free to call me if you have any questions, or need anything. Kim has her own phone line, by the way."

"Thanks," Jocelyn murmured, taking the index card. "So how can I get in touch with Zordon?"

"We have communicators that link us to each other, and the Command Center," Trini explained, holding up her wristwatch. "But we don't have one for you, so if you need to talk to Zordon, you'll have to let us know."

"I can live with that."

"So, is there anything else you need?" Trini asked.

Jocelyn shook her head, and tried her best to smile. "No, I think I'm situated."

"Okay, then we'll see you tomorrow." Trini then wrapped the startled Orange Enforcer in a warm hug. "And thank you for helping Kim like this."

The friendly gesture helped ease Jocelyn's growing discomfort. "Sure."

She then waved to Tommy, and watched as the two Rangers headed out the door. She stood in the hallway, listening as the car pulled away into the night.

She was alone in Kimberly's house.

The strength just seemed to flow from Jocelyn's limbs as she dragged herself into the bedroom Tommy indicated. She switched on the light, and released a tired sigh.

Kimberly's bedroom.

The room was spacious and neat, with pink frills and stuffed animals adding a sense of cheer and innocence that threw the Orange Enforcer for a loop. On the dresser stood over a dozen framed photographs, and on the shelf propped above the bed rested several photo albums.

"This Kim is a real shutterbug," she realized, browsing through the framed images first. Kimberly and the other Rangers at the park. At the beach. At a football game. At a fair. Kimberly wearing a flaring miniskirt, holding pom-poms.

"Oh God… she's a cheerleader

? I'm doomed…"

She shook her head in remorse, setting the photograph back on the dresser. Then, her eyes were drawn to another photograph, oddly dark when compared to the other pictures with bright colors and settings.

Kimberly, wearing a floor-length graduation gown and matching cap. At and her sides were two adults, the man dressed in a neat charcoal suit, and the woman wearing a black skirt and understated burgundy blouse.

"This must be Kim's middle-school graduation. And these are her parents."

It was particularly odd seeing this image of Kim's parents. Jocelyn hadn't really given it thought, but looking at them now she realized that she had expected them to look like her parents.

Admittedly, there were some similarities. Julian Armand did match Mr. Hart in approximate height and build, and the overall coloring was just about right. Though Julian's shape of face was wholly different. At best, they could pass for cousins, but really there was little resemblance.

Caroline Hart was slender and elegant, which differed greatly from Nancy Armand's less feminine ways. Nancy was heavier set, and significantly taller. Plus, her fair, freckled complexion, bright green eyes, and strawberry blonde hair provided a stark contrast to Caroline's darker coloring. And yet, something about the shape of their eyes and jaw was strikingly similar.

"This is all just too weird

," Jocelyn huffed, setting the photograph back on the dresser.

She made her way to Kim's neatly made bed, and stared at it for a few moments. She didn't have the heart to remove the arrangement of stuffed critters… but surely Mrs. Hart would be perplexed if her 'daughter' slept on the floor in her own bedroom.

"It's no big deal," Jocelyn reminded herself, setting the decorations on the chair beside the bed. "It's just a bed. I need to sleep somewhere

."

She uncovered a frilly pink nightgown beneath a pillow, and her eyebrow rose. "No way in hell

," she groused. "My Dreiser shirt will just have to do."

She pulled off her worn sneakers and loose-fitting jeans, set them neatly under the bed, climbed under the pale pink sheets, and turned off the light.

Jocelyn stared at the ceiling, trying to fall asleep by sheer force of will.

Part Three

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Langstrum Alps

With a faint click, an over-enthusiastic voice shattered the silence of the dark bedroom.

^…here in southern California. The mild temperatures and sunny skies are expected to extend into Thursday, when some moisture from the Pacific will bring showers, highs near sixty degrees…^

Rachel stretched from the comfort of her blankets, blinking away deep sleep as she reached for the clock radio.

It was still dark outside, and it would remain dark for a good three hours more. Then, at ten she had class, followed by a lunch break and then another class, culminating in three hours at Givens and Clark law firm, where she worked as an intern.

It was almost a typical schedule for a typical college student; with the exception of the five-hour shift she had monitoring Earth from an alien ship hovering in the stratosphere, which started promptly at four a.m.

There was no point in mourning the loss of half the night's rest. The sleep would be missed, making a typical day a challenge to complete. It was just one of the sacrifices she'd been willing to make when Spectra offered her the chance to be a defender of Earth.

Sliding out of her bed, she slipped her feet into fuzzy slippers to ward off the pre-dawn chill, and pulled her bathrobe over her sleepshirt. Typically, she wouldn't bother with such modesty… but now, there was a stranger in the apartment.

A stranger with the face of one of her dearest friends.

A different kind of chill swept the Purple Enforcer at the thought. She wrapped her robe tighter as she wondered what had happened to Jocelyn. What kind of reality was she trapped in? Could she summon the protective power of the orange Spectrum Stone, or was she completely helpless? Was she at the mercy of these so-called 'Power Rangers'? What were they really

like?

The possibilities were endless, and most were terrifying. After all, why would Princess Celea banish Jocelyn into a benign universe? There must be some threat there that put Jocelyn in danger. There must be something that Kimberly didn't tell them.

And then there was the dilemma their visitor's presence created. What were they to do with this girl from another reality? At that moment, the stranger with a familiar face slept in their apartment. Hopefully

she slept… unless she was busy plotting her escape so she could report to Celea whatever reconnaissance she'd collected.

They'd taken what precautions they could. Keith had volunteered to spend the night at their apartment, keeping an eye on matters. But knowing Keith, he'd probably fallen asleep hours ago, and nothing short of a fire alarm could rouse him.

Her eyes narrowing with fresh anxiety, Rachel opened the door and stepped out of her room, intending to check in on Jocelyn's room. But when she stepped into the common room, she stared in surprise at the lone figure sitting on the couch, staring at the flashing television screen like a zombie.

And it wasn't Keith. He lay on the carpet, snoring softly.

"Kimberly? What are you doing up?"

Kim turned, offering Rachel a tired smile. "I couldn't sleep. I couldn't get comfortable."

That certainly made sense. Especially when one gave a thought to Kimberly's situation. Stranded in an alternate dimension, powerless, surrounded by hostile warriors, with no guarantee that she could ever get home.

Rachel felt the stirring of sympathy, and squashed it immediately. She couldn't afford to feel bad for this stranger. The Denebians had proven that no tactic was beneath them. Kimberly could still

be a spy for the Empire, and she already knew more than Rachel was comfortable with.

She knew the Spectrum Force's faces. That kind of information could make a sneak attack possible, allowing the Denebians to set an ambush outside a class building, or even in their homes…

Kimberly noticed her host's distraction, and chose to fill the silence. "It's funny… you guys have the same networks that we have. CBS, ABC, NBC, Fox… how weird is that? And I caught twenty minutes of 'Ace Ventura: Pet Detective'

on the late late movie. Same actors, same jokes."

She rubbed her forehead. "But there are still differences. There is no Angel Grove here. No Stone Canyon. You don't even have Mariner Bay or Silver Hills! But you've got Broadway in New York, Disneyworld in Florida, and the White House in Washington, D.C. But no Angel Grove, Stone Canyon, Mariner Bay, or Silver Hills."

She released a soft laugh that startled Rachel. "I don't even think Billy could figure this one out."

"Billy?" Rachel prompted.

Kim glanced up, apparently surprised by Rachel's interest. But she didn't hesitate to elaborate. "Billy's the Blue Power Ranger, but he's been one of my best friends long before that. He's a real genius; he was even